A Brief History of Photographic Art

Movements
Kim Taylor for 180 degree imaging
180 degree imaging, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

The following is a simple chronology of art movements which were directly associated
with, or would have influenced artistic photography.
The early period of photography, from about 1840 to 1860 tended to favour sharp
images as the technology developed rapidly and the pioneers strove to create better
and better tools. We may call this "Straight" photography. It's strictly representational,
taken directly from nature and not manipulated. The idea is to strive toward the most
faithful rendition of what's in front of the lens.
Barbizon School (1840-70) was an association of French landscape painters around
the village of Barbizon who painted directly from nature. Their style would have
appealed to the early art photographers with their need for long exposures, bright light
and immobile subjects.
Naturalism or "straight photography" By the late 1800s photographers were doing
much more with the photographic negative and it's print than was ever possible with
the deguarrotype and Peter Henry Emerson, as an exponent of naturalism in
photography felt it necessary to define the "proper" photograph as the production of
faithfully accurate and unaltered images of nature. Emerson had a years-long debate
with Henry Peach Robinson about the uses of photography, with his "straight"
photography in direct opposition to Robinson's more carefully planned, orchestrated
and often multiple-negative images.
In 1891 Emerson seemed to despair of the limitations of photographic development
and decided that photography would forever remain a minor art because it could not be
manipulated at will.
With his Pictorial Effect in Photography (1869), Henry Peach Robinson urged
photographic artists to render the subject a little out of focus (as did Emerson), to
study the great works of art and to apply them to their photographs. In this way the
photographer would become less a chemical and optical technician and more an artist.
These works were likely influenced by such art movements as Romanticism (early to
mid 1800s), the pre-Raphealites (England 1848) and the Symbolists (France188090). Julia Margret Cameron was especially noted for depicting soft focus themes from
the bible, with mysterious lighting.
The photographers of this era were using multiple printing techniques to create
montage images to achieve their painterly effects. In return, the pre-Raphealite

painters were using photographs as inspiration or models in their own work.

Impressionism (France) was said to begin with Manet's famous Dejeuner sur l'herbe
in 1863. It focused on the visual impressions of light and colour on objects, usually
outside. Manet, Renoir, Monet, Degas and Pissarro were major exponents of the style.
The first Impressionist exhibition was held in the studio of the photographer Nadar in
1874.
Pictorialism developed in the 1880s as photography began to open up to the masses
with the first Kodak cameras from George Eastman. The Pictorialists strove to go
beyond the clinical, focused detail of the photograph, beyond the "snapshot" to invoke
feeling, a mood or an atmosphere in the print. They copied the compositions of
modern paintings and manipulated the print. The movement lasted almost 40 years.
The subject matter was often peasant life and landscapes.
Pointilism (France 1880s) used small dabs of pure colour which mix in the eye of the
viewer to produce the image. The temptation to speculate on the similarity of this style
to the grains of silver which produce a photograph is great.
Art Nouveau (France 1880-1910) was a highly decorative style of art dedicated to
natural forms. It was widespread and highly commercial.
The Linked Ring (1892-1909) was formed by the Pictorialist photographer George
Davidson in England along with other members of the Royal Photographic Society
who objected to the more technical emphasis of the Society. The first members
included Julia Margret Cameron and Henry Peach Robinson. Membership in the group
required the stated belief that photography was an art form.
Fauvism (France c1900) extended Impressionism, using bolder colours and painting
spontaneously, almost wildly. Gauguin and van Gogh were the bridge between
Impressionism and Fauvism (they are sometimes called post-impressionists) while
Matisse, Derain, deVlaminch and others carried it forward.
Expressionism (Germany, 1905-25) arose at the same time as Fauvism and used
emphasis and distortion to create an emotional response. Consider the distorted nudes
of Dritikol and Kertesz from the 20s.
The Photo Succession (USA) Alfred Steiglitz (along with Edward Steichen) formed
the Photo Succession in 1902 in NYC as a Pictorial group. He later moved toward
more urban themes, similar to the American "Ash Can School" (1908-1918) of
realistic inner-city painting.
Futurism (Italy, 1909-1944) Giulio Bragaglia used mulitiple exposure and time-lapse
techniques to show movement and dynamism in still photographs, as illustrations of
the machine-age Futurist doctrine.

Cubism (Europe c1910) arose just before WWI and is characterised by a reduction of
the image to geometrical forms and multiple viewpoints.
Dada (Germany 1915-23) was a movement that followed the great war and set about
to dismantle tradition. One of the most important features was a desire for the
influence of chance, of accident. Photo-collage was used to create intellectually
challenging absurd non-images. Photograms were also created by placing objects
directly on photographic paper and exposing them directly.
Constructivism (Russia 1915) and the Bauhaus (Germany) celebrated the machine in
abstract photographs, creating art for the industrial age, a utilitarian art. The paintings
were created using strict mathematical and technical principles.
Surrealism (France c1920) aimed to explore the unconscious, using unexpected
juxtapositions of objects and spontaneous technique. Andre Breton published the
Manifesto in 1924 that established the basis of the movement. Man Ray was a painter
and photographer at the centre of this movement.
Art Deco (1920-30) can be considered a successor to Art Nouveau, a highly
commercial art movement that influenced all aspects of art and design.
F.64 (1932, USA) Edward Weston eventually rejected all forms of manipulation in
photography, moving toward a more natural style. This group was formed in 1932 by,
among others, Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogene Cunningham, and Willard Van Dyke.
Photojournalism (1920s) With more portable cameras came more "street
photography" with Henri Cartier-Bresson ("the decisive moment") advocating a
snapshot style, Berenice Abbot and Helen Levitt documented New York City. Of
course photojournalism had been carried on since the 1840s but the widespread use of
the style had to wait for more portable cameras.
Social Documentary (1930s USA) With the great depression came the documentation
of the FSA with Dorathea Lang and Walker Evans. Of course these themes had been
explored before and continue.
Abstract Art Was said to be originated by the Expressionist painter Wassily
Kandinsky just before the Second World War. Many of the European Abstract artists
moved to the USA after the war, these included Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp and
Marc Chagall.
Abstract Expressionism (USA c1940) emphasized personal expression and
spontaneous creation. Jackson Pollock is probably the best known artist of this
movement. In the 1950s Colour Field Painting arose whereby large areas of colour
are combined to produce an effect in the viewer.
Minimalism (USA 1950s) advocates pure, reduced forms and strict systematic

compositions. The relevence of this movement to the modern "thumbnail" gallery

display of photographs is striking, with spare, uncomplicated and highly compositional
images being more likely to attract the viewer's attention during the half second or so
the tiny image is in sight.
Pop Art (1950s Britain and USA) uses and appropriates the images and techniques of
commercial arts, popular culture and especially advertising. Andy Warhol, Ray
Lichtenstein and Robert Rauchenberg are key figures in this movement. Pop art is said
to be a reaction to the Abstract Art movement and it very consciously tears down the
barriers between fine art and commercial art which were perhaps erected as early as
1840 as a reaction to photography, the ultimate commercial art tool. A measure of how
far-reaching the pop art movement is, might be the placement of fashion photography
in museums.
Op Art (mid 50s) was a short-lived movement which peaked the 1970s, using
geometric pattern and design to produce an optical effect. The most well-known artist
is Vasarely.
Conceptual Art developed in the 1960s and aims to emphasize the idea over the art
object. This is to free the artist from the gallery. Conceptual art is of course tied
intimately with photography since the conceptual art performance leaves no object and
thus must be documented by photography. This begs the question of course of whether
or not the photograph IS the object of the art.
Photorealism or superrealism (late 1960s) aims to produce photograph-like paintings
and sculpture. The influence of photography on painting as well as the more obvious
historical influence of painting on photography becomes obvious.
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